The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services and more particularly to caller identification. More particularly, the present invention relates to automatic management of incoming calls at a called telephone.
Telecommunications service providers typically offer services that attempt to provide customers with information that enables them to determine whether or not to accept a call before answering the call. One service that provides such information is caller identification (“Caller ID”). Standard Caller ID services generally provide a customer with an indication of who is calling without requiring the customer to answer the call. These systems typically retrieve information about the calling party from a database and provide that information to the called party. Customer premise equipment (CPE) in the form of a display device is generally used to provide the called party with a visual readout of the name and/or telephone number associated with the calling party.
However, the effectiveness of Caller ID systems can be reduced due to a number of different occurrences. One common occurrence that decreases the effectiveness of Caller ID systems is the inability of a service provider to provide the standard Caller ID information for a particular incoming call. A service provider may not be able to provide the standard Caller ID information if the Caller ID information is blocked by the calling party, or if the Caller ID information is unavailable or incomplete, or if the calling party has caused his Caller ID information to be marked private. When the standard Caller ID information cannot be provided, the called party is not adequately informed about who is calling and cannot determine whether or not to accept the incoming call before answering the call. Because the effectiveness of Caller ID systems is greatly reduced when information cannot be provided, an improved system and method for providing caller identification information that overcomes these deficiencies are needed.
One known system determines if standard Caller ID information associated with a calling party can be provided to the called party. Such a system is described in copending application Ser. No. 09/122,484, filed Jul. 24, 1998, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference. If the standard Caller ID cannot be provided, the system transmits a request for audible caller identification information to the calling party. The provided audible caller identification information is then provided to the called party to decide to answer the call.
Some subscribers prefer additional flexibility in managing incoming calls. Such subscribers prefer to vary the levels of privacy according to their daily schedule or circumstances. One system allows the subscriber to establish a schedule of times when incoming calls are blocked. Also, the system allows establishment of tiers of access in which calls on some tiers are blocked while others are permitted. This system provides some additional flexibility for the subscriber but requires substantial time and effort to set up the access tiers and to assign calling numbers to the tiers. A less cumbersome system and method for managing incoming calls are required.